Class B Boys Basketball program at the Heritage Center

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - For many, State Class B basketball is a way of life. The tournament is this weekend and it will be the last hurrah for the event before the state switches over to a three-class system.

KUMV sportscaster, Jon Cole has been covering Class B sports since 1983 and has reported on dozens of basketball games at the event but he says one contest stands out.

“1991 Fred Fridley. Martin MacDonald played for Munich and Watford City beat them by one point. First time ever they want to state the boy’s basketball title,” said Cole.

Class B sports fans like Cole can relive some of those memories this week at the Heritage Center thanks to the Class B basketball exhibit at the museum.

“You’ll see the newspaper before they go and how excited everybody in the community is and how supportive they are like every business has to have a good plaque to their team or something like that. So it’s a lot of fun to look through, look through the papers and see what was going on and kind of relive that,” said Laura Forde, learning and development coordinator at the Heritage Center.

The pictures and video and film clips highlight the athletes’ dreams of making it to the tournament.

“When they’re small. They dream about I’m going to make the winning shot. We’re going to win this date B. They try to stay together all through high school and they say hey, when we’re seniors, we’re gonna get to the B,” said Cole.

They both think the stands at a basketball game are a perfect place for small towns to find community.

“The schools are so important to the communities and that in the sports are kind of a representation of that,” said Forde.

“Class B is is kind of it is what people in these small towns our girls and boys dream about making it to the B,” said Cole.

The Heritage Center staff wanted to highlight the event because of how; large the B has been as a generational activity.

“It’s what the state is. North Dakota is a state filled with small towns and they love to be in its part of the heart. It’s a part of our state,” said Cole.

From Thursday to Sunday families can look at pictures and film clips of class B history free of charge.

The Heritage Center hopes to continue highlighting other state tournaments in the next couple of years and make the exhibits even larger. The Class B display is open to the public during regular museum hours.

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